Alexander Constantine Ionides and Euterpe Ionides with their Children

Adopted by Jamie & Julia Korner

This lively family scene was one of the most ambitious group portraits of Watts’s early career. It depicts the young family of an up-and-coming Greek textile merchant, Alexander Ionides. Ionides had recently acquired British citizenship and commissioned this portrait to hang in the family home in South London.

The two eldest boys are clothed in traditional Greek dress in celebration of their heritage. An avid art collector, Ionides became one of Watts’s significant early patrons.